David Swanson: #NoWar2016 – Declaration of Peace — Invitation to Individuals and Organizations to Sign

What Could Unite a Larger Peace Movement? Oh, This! In a time of division and disagreement, when people who all agree on something important sometimes spend more time bickering with each other than working on their collective cause, is it possible to craft an agenda that brings them together and adds to their numbers? It …

David Swanson: Understanding Afghanistan – New Book No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes

Everybody’s Got Afghanistan Wrong I’ve just read an excellent new book by Anand Gopal called No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes. Gopal has spent years in Afghanistan, learned local languages, interviewed people in depth, researched their stories, and produced a true-crime book more gripping, as well …

David Swanson: Localities Reining in Federal Government – Sixth City Passes Anti-Drone Resolution

Leverett Becomes Sixth City to Pass Anti-Drone Resolution Here are the other five. Leverett and Amherst, Mass., both were expected to consider resolutions. I haven’t heard any news from Amherst. The Leverett news is courtesy of Beth Adams. I haven’t seen official text, but here’s some idea of what was passed, or at least what …

David Swanson: Three Images – Drone Bugsplat, Jesus on a Bench, Man vs. Machine

Three Images the World Needed Employees of the U.S. government refer to people they murder as “bugsplat.” They pretend that the men, women, and children they are killing with drones are just bugs, because they just look like little fuzzy creatures on a computer screen. Thank goodness for the artists who have put a giant …

David Swanson: Do We Blame Sociopaths — or a Society Become Pathologically Dysfunctional?

Can We Really Blame Sociopaths? I’ve been hearing increasingly from multiple quarters that the root of our problems is psychopaths and sociopaths and other loosely defined but definitely different beings from ourselves.  Rob Kall has produced a quite interesting series of articles and interviews on the subject. I want to offer some words of caution …